Dockworkers along the East and Gulf Coast ports — including Savannah’s — are preparing to walk off the job next weekend in a move that would have a ripple effect on an already fragile economy and disrupt the delivery of everything from retail goods and food items to parts critical to U.S. manufacturers.

Contract negotiations broke down Tuesday between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents shipping interests and management at 14 deepwater ports from Boston to Houston.

There are no plans to meet again before Saturday, when the current contract extension expires, and ILA President Harold Daggett has been authorized by the union to call the strike.

A work stoppage would effectively shut down container operations at Georgia Ports, the fourth-busiest container port in the country and the second largest on the East Coast.

“It’s beginning to look pretty likely,” said GPA executive director Curtis Foltz. “We’ve been increasingly concerned by the lack of progress in the negotiations and are disappointed the parties haven’t been able to reach a new contract.”

A strike at the Port of Savannah would idle some 1,500 dockworkers, as well as short- and long-haul truck drivers, stevedores, line handlers and other related workers.

If the Alliance calls for a lockout of the ILA, the work stoppage would also affect bulk, breakbulk and roll-on/roll-off cargo, such as auto units and construction equipment.

Asked about contingency plans at Georgia Ports, Foltz said there are none.

Savannah ILA president Willie Seymore declined requests for an interview.

A chess game

Just the spectre of a strike can wreak havoc on the East Coast, Foltz said.

“Logistics supply chains don’t turn on a dime, so even if the issues are resolved fairly quickly, it could take months before all the business comes back.”

Page Siplon, executive director of the Georgia Center of Excellence for Logistics, agreed.

“Logistics is all about planning,” he said. “What everyone wants from their supply chain is to move faster, cheaper and, most important, reliably. But you can’t come close to that when you have to make last-minute decisions.

“That’s why even the threat of a strike sends a ripple of unease through the entire supply chain,” he said.

“It’s like playing chess with billions of dollars in commerce and thousands of jobs.”

Fortunately, supply chains are flexible enough that a short strike shouldn’t do any long-term damage, Siplon said.

Rhett Willis, president of Savannah’s D.J. Powers, one of the oldest Georgia-based freight forwarder and customs brokerage firms in the state, said the possibility of a walk-out has already caused disruptions up and down the supply chain.

“Many of our customers are already acting on their contingency plans, canceling bookings or loading and holding containers,” he said.

“Hopefully this won’t happen,” he said. “And, if it does, hopefully it won’t last long.”

A plea for help

On Thursday, a diverse coalition of more than 100 national and state associations — organized and led by the National Retail Federation — sent a letter to President Obama to “urge immediate action by your administration to ensure that a strike does not occur.”

The coalition — it represents the breadth of the supply chain from auto makers, farmers, manufacturers and retailers — reiterated its call on the president “to take immediate action and use all of the options available to you, including the authority under the Taft-Hartley Act, to keep the parties at the negotiating table and avoid a coast-wide port shutdown.”

The group said failure to reach a contract agreement would have “serious economy-wide impacts.”

Georgia is especially vulnerable.

Jeff Humphreys, University of Georgia economist and director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at UGA’s Terry College of Business, said the economic damage of a strike could be devastating, especially for a port-dependent state such as Georgia.

“Make no mistake about it, a strike will affect everyone, not just those directly connected to the port,” Humpreys told the Morning News in September.

“If you shop at Walmart, buy groceries or gas, need parts to repair your automobile, you will be affected.

The financial markets won’t be immune, either.

“Even a short term strike could cause some volatility — in the credit markets, the currency market, the stock market — and impact confidence,” he said.

In Georgia, 10 cents of every dollar in sales and 8 percent of jobs — about 352,000 — are port-dependent, Humphreys said.

“While we certainly wouldn’t lose all of those jobs, we do rely more on our ports than most states.”

Humphreys said he doesn’t expect the president to allow a strike to continue long term.

“Our economy is entirely too vulnerable to any type of shock,” he said. “With ports accounting for 8 percent of our GDP, a prolonged port strike would tip the Eastern U.S. back into recession.”

The sticking points

According to the Journal of Commerce, both sides are at an impasse over container royalties, which ILA workers receive at the end of the year and which also go to their benefits. Container royalties are based on the weight of container cargo received at each port.

Ironically, while Savannah ILA locals are prepared to stand in solidarity with their brothers and sisters, it’s not likely container royalties are a big issue here because Savannah’s royalties are among the highest in the country.

“The issues are national, not local, and primarily in the New York area,” said Tom Wright, secretary of the Savannah Maritime Association.

“Our local longshoremen, facilities and agents work well together.”

New York/New Jersey, the largest port on the East Coast, handled 5.5 million TEUs — or 20-foot container equivalents — equaling 12.9 percent of U.S. volumes in 2011. Savannah is next, with nearly 3 million TEUs, or 8 percent.

In addition to his national role, ILA President Daggett also represents a New York local.

Altogether, the ports that would be affected should the ILA go on strike handled 20.7 million TEUs in 2011, 48.5 percent of the total container traffic passing through U.S. ports.

ABOUT THE PLAYERS

The International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO, is the largest union of maritime workers in North America, representing upward of 65,000 longshoremen on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada. Dockworkers on the West Coast are represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

According to James Capo of the U.S. Maritime Alliance, which represents management at the 14 deepwater ports along the East and Gulf coasts, ILA members coastwide average $124,138 a year in wages and benefits, “which puts them ahead of all but 2 percent of all U.S. workers. They earn an average hourly wage of $50 — more than double the $23.19 average for all U.S. union workers. They also pay no premiums and minimal co-pays and deductibles for a health care plan that is better than most U.S. employers provide their workers.”

At the Port of New York and New Jersey, 34 ILA members make over $368,000 a year in wages and benefits, Capo said, with one of every three making more than $208,000 a year, not including annual bonuses based on the weight of container cargo.

“These container royalties totaled $232 million in 2011 — or an average of $15,500 for ILA workers on the East and Gulf coasts.”

Local ILA workers reportedly average closer to $30,000 annually in royalties.

The United States Maritime Alliance is a consortium of container carriers, direct employers and port associations serving the East and Gulf Coasts of the United States. While serving as the representative of the management groups in master contract bargaining, the Alliance also articulates industry positions on regulatory and safety issues; oversees coastwide training, retraining, certification and recertification programs and is responsible for administering coast-wide fringe benefit funds and programs.

EXTENDED HOURS ANNOUNCED

In anticipation of a strike beginning Sunday, the Georgia Ports Authority has announced extended gate hours this week at Garden City Terminal, its main container facility. They are:

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INTERNATIONAL LONGSHOREMEN’S ASSOCIATION, AFL-CIO CONTRACT ISSUES WITH UNITED STATES MARITIME ALLIANCE
December 20, 2012

THE ISSUE: CONTAINER ROYALTY
International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO wants to maintain Container Royalty Fund as it is in current contract. USMX, the employer group representing ILA employers, wants to put a cash ceiling or CAP on how much money is put into the Container Royalty Fund for current longshore workers and ultimately, eliminate the Container Royalty Fund.
The first container royalties were established in the 1960s as a way to protect members of the International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO (ILA) in New York from job losses created by containerization and its introduction of automated cargo.
Container Royalty came about from negotiations and sacrifices made by ILA members since the late 1960s. Container Royalty supplements the members’ income and keeps his benefits package financially strong. Container Royalty eligibility must be earned by an ILA member reaching a certain amount of hours worked each year. ILA work isn’t like other professions: no ships mean no work, but employers depend on a strong and skilled workforce when ships need to be worked. Container Royalty helps keep an ILA workforce available.
When containerization started the ILA was faced with a huge displacement of worker whose jobs were eliminated by the ominous steel boxes. The ILA was at a crossroad - allow containerization to be implemented or refuse. The ILA agreed to allow containerization to flourish but negotiated a fee based on the weight of each loaded container to be used for annual payments to the longshore workers whose job opportunities had been compromised due to containerization. As the number of containers being handled increased, the negotiated payment for each worker increased. Rather than being an annual bonus for each worker, as USMX suggests, this payment is compensation for the job opportunities lost by permitting containerization.

United States Maritime Alliance now wants to limit the amount of money that is paid ILA members and goes into various Container Royalty Funds by placing a CAP on the money collected in any given contract year. Container Royalty is collected by the amount of tons of containerized cargo ILA members handle. A total of $4.85 is collected on each ton of containerized cargo handled and is distributed to ILA workers as part of a Wage supplement and to the ILA members’ health care fund, called MILA.
USMX ultimate goal is to eliminate Container Royalty, based on their last proposal to end it in 25 years.
ILA has suggested a way for Container Royalty to end now. If the Carriers don’t want to pay Container Royalty, then bring back all the warehouses, and start stuffing and stripping again. A Carrier does not have to pay Container Royalty on a Container that has been stuffed and stripped by the ILA.
Automation continues to reduce the number of hours for hard working ILA members. Container Royalty wage supplements are more important today for ILA members than its ever been to keep America’s commerce moving with skilled, trained longshore workers.

WAGES:
ILA and USMX have exchanged proposals and demands regarding on Wages based on a tentative six-year contract. The ILA has put in its demands wage increases that are reasonable and would enable our employers to remain competitive.
In its contract proposals to the ILA, USMX continues to treat ILA workers like second-class citizens. In all its public pronouncements on wages, USMX fails to note that longshore labor cost amounts to between 3% and 4% of the shipper’s total cost. Unlike other hourly workers who work a 40-hour workweek, most longshore workers make themselves available for work on a daily basis. Early on, the ILA negotiated a guarantee of a day’s pay. Otherwise, the employer had no obligation to pay if a vessel did not arrive on schedule. To the employer’s benefit, Guarantee Annual Income no longer exists.

Also very important to note: For over 20 years, our employers enjoyed paying tiered wages where newer longshore workers were paid much less than their senior counterparts. The system was unfair and there was never light at the end of the tunnel. History shows that management enjoyed huge savings while ILA members, their locals, the Districts and the International all suffered with reduced revenues.

ILA HEALTH CARE FOR WORKERS:
The ILA’s National Health care program is called “MILA”
Part of MILA is funded through Container Royalty money mentioned earlier.
USMX current proposal is that our MILA fund is so solvent that they’d like to defer payment of CR 4 for two years.
USMX views this as a loan, promising to pay it back within third year of agreement. Their math is fuzzy. They claim CR 4 contributions down the road will be greater than the current $1.15. We think their contributions would end up being less with even a 5% bump in container growth.
USMX pledged early in negotiations that no matter what we agreed to with MILA, our fund would be sound and secure because they’d automatically pump money into the fund if the current $800 million reserve were to fall below $600 million. They called it a trigger and that it would kick in when the fund went below $600 million. CR-4 would restart.
Somehow, talk of a “trigger” has stopped. Their new formula? They only want a 6-month reserve with no trigger. That formula would take our current $800 million reserve down to the $200 million mark.
They will “Guarantee” the current benefit for the life of the contract if we agree to that two-year deferred payment to CR-4. The ILA asks “What reserve will we have at the end of a contract with this formula?” We are unsure about the impact from OBAMACARE.
ILA refuses to jeopardize the future of our MILA program by shortsighted decisions. Healthcare is extremely important to our members and their families and we want it financially secure.

OTHER ISSUES:
ILA and USMX did reach tentative agreements on automation and container chassis work and on some jurisdiction language.

LOCAL ISSUES:
All local issues and negotiated in the local port area. All ILA ports from Maine to Texas still need to resolve local agreements.

The longshoreman are greedy so why not just fire them here in Georgia its not like they can find jobs making $100,000. + a year for people without higher education.Whats gonna be a shock is when they have to compete with other people for those $8.00 hr jobs everybody seems to point out here.Let me get this right these ILA employees don't pay healthcare premiums,co pays or RX?If not then these employees are complete morons for thinking about a strike.

Let the ILA strike. Don not give in the their outrageous demands. This is nuts. Most people would love to make $70,000.00 to 80.000.00 a year with excellent benefits. They believe they have the upper hand but I believe they should all be fired. It is reasons like this that products are so expensive. I know this is one job that can't be outsourced but union demands are one of the reasons that many jobs have been outsourced. Right now they are holding us hostage. I can't believe the salaries they are already making and they want more. How greedy can anybody get.

Look. You want sell me on that union crap.i worked with 1475 before and it was still to this day the easiest money I ever made in my life.I worked all night one time and made about 350 dollars for simply writing a number off the container down on a clipboard as they loaded it on a chassis to be taken away.Skilled labor PLEEEAASSSE . Anybody can do what they are doing down there.

Sounds to me like a bunch of people talking about thing they know nothing about. This article is not all true and neither is the usmx's own website. You should check it out it's usmx.com and it's full of lies the numbers don't match and they are wrong either way. So believe what you want because you are going to anyway. Thanks and Merry Christmas :)

Also some of you make it sound like you've worked out there before what you are saying you did is not even what we do. And the other person who said that we have less jockey truck and we already gave up some of our work to the port at the gates that is just simply not true. So maybe you should either get you facts straight or quit lying and quit hatin. Did you ever think that maybe we are not over paid YOU are under paid.

If I made $70,000,00 or $80,000,00 or $100,000,00 and don't have to pay much, if anything for healthcare and other benefits I won't worry what the CEO makes. Any person who only has a high school education and can make that kind of money is doing very well. There is this little problem with so many people though that ruins everything for everyone. They get greedy. Nothing isever enough. That is why so many of our jobs are outsourced. Get rid of the unions and some of these jobs may come back.

You people who still think we live in early 20th century where workers in factories were overworked and abused; at that time and place the unions served a purpose. There are laws in place now that keep hard working people from being abused. The Unions have outlived their usefulness but they have always been so powerful and they are clinging to that power. Don't any of you liberals have a problem with how much money union bosses make and how much they can influence elections. Nobody should have to join a union if they don't want to. And all workers should get raises on there own merits.

If we got rid of unions then we would go back to the early 20th century and that's why they are still around. And CEO are paid higher than union bosses and they usually have more influence on elections and if you don't think so you should do your research and not just watch Fox News.

I wasn't talking about CEO's. I was talking about unions and union bosses. How much a CEO makes depends a lot on how well the company is doing. CEO's can also be fired. I've never heard of a union boss being fired. And who cares if they make more than union bosses except people like you who seem jealous of the money some people make. But that's okay because being envious of people who have more than us is human nature.

Before you tell me to do my research before making comments, I could say the same for you. I wasn't born yesterday. Watching Fox News has nothing to do with unions and CEOs. Oh and by the way, if I want to get the real news with no spin I watch Fox News. If I want to hear all about wonders and plunders of Barack Obama and how he can do no wrong I watch NBC or MSNBC.

How well a company is doing depend a lot on the employees weather they are union or not. But it is a fact that union worker are usually happy with their job. And a union employee can get fired so can a union boss. The union can fire their boss if they do something wrong and it has happened. So another example of not doing any research. Also to worry about what CEO's make just the way they try to cut benefits and pay while giving themselves raises. Is this ok with you? Sounds like it. Look at the whole story with hostess, the union had already taken 2 pay cut and cuts to their benefits while the CEO got a 300% raise 9 other executives got 100% in raises and the CEO got $1,400,000 in bonuses, so let blame it on the union right. Do some research and get some real facts before you spout off about what it seems you don't know what you are talking about

As far as I know savannahnow is the only one who can delete your post. So you may want to talk to them. Also I watch all news stations then research the facts for myself and when it come to these issues I have found that fox is very one sided and usually wrong in their reporting.

Well there are seven jockey trucks per gang and every crane has one gang behind it. If all 24 cranes are working, wells let's do the math 7*24=168 (all ILA) fact. The port is in negotiations with the checkers and clerks to do more work in the rail yard so that means more ILA jobs, fact.

If you read this article you would see that Mr. Foltz said that the port will " respect the ILA's jurisdictional rights here" " if they aren't working our docks won't be working. Ships won't be loaded or unloaded." As far as the container royalty being a scam it was a negotiated agreement made so that we would work containers because it take a lot less workers to work container than it does break bulk. Fact.

Someone is not being truthful with you for some reason these jobs are in the master contract. I also know plenty of people who do the payroll and what you are saying is just not true. There are now four clerks working in one rail yard and two in the other with more to come. Fact.

You have miss read what I said. I never said there were no non-union jockey truck drivers you said there were no ILA jockey truck drivers and I pointed out that the gangs that work the ships have 7-8 plus one header. As long as the jobs are in the contract we will be there and they have also made a tentative agreement to protect jobs do to automation. And I have seen many of the non-union port employees damage cargo also so you must be calling them misfits as well. I'm glad to see that you would like to see hard working Americans put out of work so they can hire someone at a lower wage. Just think when you do retire the company you work for will probably not replace you, but I guess that's ok with you sense all it seems you do is look over damage that other people make and you make this great living doing it. Remember what YOU said about it being Christmas and take your own advise. Merry Christmas.

Huge retirement check? Just someone else who doesn't know what they are talking about. Just ask management they will tell you that we do work and our retirement is not that great. So stop all the lying just to make us sound bad please and thank you.

And the only people that I know of that have ever left the job was because they got run off for not doing their job or drugs retirement or they died or they couldn't handle the dangers of the job. So you are alive didn't retire, maybe one of the other three. Just sayin.

As I said I wasn't born yesterday. Years ago when our children were 8 and 10 years of my husband gave up a low paying job in Savannah and we moved to Arizona for what a was a well paying job. But the union workers went on strike almost as soon as we got there and my husband who was not union and was a salaried employee as all salaried workers had to do the union jobs to keep the copper mine operating. The union's demands were outrageous. They could not be met. This went on for 6 months. The strike ended after about 6 months later. And soon after the strike was over, the copper mine was in serious financial straits.

It was a small town and the copper mine was what supported the town but there was resentment among the union and salaried employees that carried over into the all aspects of life into that town. For example, my son 8 year old and played little league football spent most games sitting on the bench while the children of union employees played most of the games. Obviously union employees were the coaches of these little league games . The resentment among one class of employees and the other class was making life unpleasant there. We moved back to Savannah after a year.

And no jojo we will never go back back to the early 20th century. There are several large companies in this area that do not have unions but have excellent working conditions with benefits and even Christmas bonuses. No where (any state) should never have to join a union and pay dues if they want to work in the state.

You liberals live in your own dream world of La La land. You love to make fun of Fox News but it is the only news show that give the news. How much information did you get about the Benghazi on CBS or NBS. Those lame stream new shows did not want to report anything negative about Obama Admin that would make him look bad that close to the election. You liberals are all alike. And just how can you form an opinion about Fox News if you don't watch it.

No state or any place should anyone have to join a union just to be able to work in that state. All states should be Right to Work states. Is that simple enough for you. So if Fox News is comical, where do YOU get your unbiased news from? By the way, I also get news on line from Google and sometimes CNN. But I know BS when I see or read it. I'm not going to be ashamed of where I get information.

The sticking point of the negotiating is container royalties and it can be met. It is something that has been in the contract for more than fifty year. This is not outrageous we don't want to lose it and the companies can more than afford it. The ILA accounts for only 3-4% of the total shipping cost and that's not a lot. It is something that was agreed to in the 50's in order to make up the pay and man hours lost do to containerization because it take a lot more people to work break bulk than it does containers. I'm not a liberal and I don't like politics that much I just think that we should be able to keep what we already have, we are not asking for anything new. The container lines make hundreds of million to billions a year so I don't think it is unrealistic or outrageous of us.

Our base retirement is just over two grand a month if you work more than the minimum number of hour and year you get a supplement and its not that much. The most I have heard of anyone getting is about three to four a month so who ever gave you those numbers, if you didn't make them up, is not being very truthful. And the name call is totally unnecessary. Remember respectful conversation.

Oh and one little piece of info for y'all the ILA and USMX have agreed to sit back down at the table on the 27th of this month so lets hope all ends well. Thank you and good night to all. Merry Christmas.

I won't comment anymore about the negotiations between your union and the company because I don't know the specifics. For now I wish everyone who posts on this forum a very Merry Christmas. We went to midnight mass and now it's past my bed time. Good night.

cannot afford to hire another person full time even if we really want too, There a couple of good men that can't find jobs, have run out of unemployment and are really having it hard. We use them when we can and try to be a little generous when possible. I keep hearing how that the economy is improving and because our business has a lot to do with real estate and when real estate picks up we can improve our cash flow and maybe we can hire this young man full time. 2 more houses are going up in Liberty and Long county which is great, Building homes bankrupted the construction businesses when the bottom fell out of the real estate market. It may be too late for some of those construction companies but more will spring up. They just should not build anymore spec houses. Only build when someone contracts you and they have their own skin in the game.

We bought our home in 2010 that had been repossessed from the builder and the banked owned it So we were lucky and got it for a good price. But I can't help but feel bad for the builder who lost this house because he couldn't sell it. He also lost his cabinet shop too. What a shame.

Myself and many other truckers around the Savannah area will park our trucks if the union strikes. NO, we have no contract nor do we gain anything from the strike. However I'm not going to drive through any legitimate picket line set up by the dock workers just so Wall-Mart will receive another steel can full of cheap Chinese junk on time. Too bad we don't have any protection or contract like the union does but sadly there are not enough truckers at this port out the thousands who haul here willing to stand up against the cartel of shipping companies or the hundreds of trucking companies who gladly bow to their intermodal customers wishes. It's a daily transportation rate cutting war that goes on here in Savannah. I hope the Longshoremen get everything possible from the liner industry because this lucrative port industry steals enough money from truckers around here to make up for whatever they have to pay out to the dockworkers.

Ever wonder why so many trucks are in such poor condition moving freight out of the Savannah ports(when the port business is so successful and so profitable) or why so many idiots are behind the steering wheel of big semi's today? Well to answer that just go figure what it cost to operate a class 8 tractor today not including a decent wage for a professional driver.. (yes a professionally qualified safety conscience driver/not a cheap working steering wheel holder with a critically sick CSA safety score-the kind most of these companies like to hire to cut their labor expenses) Try doing the math on every day trucking operating expenses. Sadly the pathetic transportation rates paid to move containers out of Savannah,GA don't come close to what's considered making a profit today so most(truck owners)independent truckers can't make it from one week to the next without borrowing from the company store. The break even margin for a container trucker is a very thin line effected by any small miscalculation, delay, or unexpected deduction from their trucker settlement check issued by the motor carrier they lease their truck to. Now to add more insult to injury the GPA port authority's top leadership encourages motor carriers to cut transportation cost to the bone in order to please their port ocean carrier shipping customers. In fact the GA port authority advertises in national shipping magazines around the world that this southern area in the U.S. is one of the very cheapest ports for doing business along the Atlantic so now they have a vested interested in maintaining that scenario. Local freight agents under pressure to produce strive to squeeze every dollar possible out of their independent drivers who many in turn are forced in the position of skirting the law on a weekly basis. Some drivers do this by pulling grossly overweight containers, or doing only minimal vehicle maintenance, running further on worn dangerous tires,bad brakes,some burn untaxed fuel,or forced to purchase substandard parts,some drive their truck like damn lunatics, and many operate or work without proper sleep because of a 24/7 company work load schedule mindset to beat it back to the docks in order to pull every cheap load possible before payday..

Yes trucking needs serious help, but we don't need enforcement vultures circling overhead at every intersection. Please don't think for one moment that the regular GA state enforcement people do not make a difference out here. Yes they do. We don't need local city truck cop enforcement returning. The state of GA does just fine without repeating past local city governments interference of using truckers as (as Garden City once did) an instant ATM machine. Increasing fines or enforcement is not the answer. It's going to get worse as the economy strengthens because there will be more trucks moving more boxes from the docks. An army of enforcement will not get the job done because the volume of future container freight will overcome them. There is a simpler solution to the port trucking problem. Truckers need to at least be paid for the work they do so enforcement should turn to new ways of making sure everyone is on a level playing field. As of now this is not the case. There is destructive corruption within this industry that seeks out harbor trucking because of a total lack of enforcement. No trucker should have to chose between feeding their family or replacing a worn tire but that's exactly the situation today. Making the GA port, the steamship lines, and the ports ocean customers share equal responsibility is the answer before any one else dies in the name of providing discount rates for the big box retailers.

The GA port needs to step up to the plate(something they have always been reluctant to do) and enforce some corporate responsibility rules on their own. For example; stopping overloaded export shipping containers from being excepted at the port gates or overloaded imported containers from entering the street. They know many of these boxes are grossly overweight and a real danger to the public while being transported but yet they chose to do nothing. The port should demand a special type transportation vendors license with a bond posted from trucking companies who wish to do business here at the GPA like they do construction contractors on site. This has been done at other ports with success. If a trucking company steals from their sub-contractors the money will be paid from the bonding company to the injured party unlike today where an unscrupulous company terminates the truckers lease knowing full well there will be no consequence. Most small truckers can't afford an attorney to seek justice from these thieves so the crime spree continues. The GA port authority as a landlord can implement regulations which will stop further unscrupulous practices by companies who now routinely violate the rights of their workforce. This will deter bad business practices if they know they'll no longer be able to enter the docks. The point is motor carriers or their agents who feel they must scam or steal money from their independent truckers or company drivers should no longer be welcomed at the Georgia ports. These same companies could also be monitored( as the FMCSA is now doing with carrier safety issues)to discourage the same company or individual from opening up under a different name a week later and re-entering the local dray business.

NO,, we don't have a trucking contract nor do we have any powerful union like the ILA dockworkers to speak up for us so maybe it's time the Savannah port authority leadership showed some real leadership and did something beside mouth kindly words for the media or produce cute little commercials with smiling faces talking about all the wonderful trucking jobs which they can't account for. I will be very surprised if responsible change ever matters to the port of Savannah without truckers finding a way to force them to make those changes. Too bad we don't have the ILA in our corner..
And they wonder why people form unions! .

$1,000 per month in fuel? We don't move freight behind a VW diesel wagon. I guess the $400.00 is also for the VW payment right? Please tell me what kind of class 8 truck other than pure junk you may purchase for a $400.00 dollar per month payment? Whether that lease operators truck is paid for doesn't reduce any freight rate except maybe in your eyes.I don't know of any such "truck paid for discount" you may or may not be offering to your freight customers but that's probably just another foolish fantasy of yours.Perhaps the $400 per month payment is calculated based on those junk fleet trucks you or your pals continue to hustle off on drivers with over 800,000 miles on them? Get real dispatcher or agent that you are. You know your math is about as fuzzy as your brain. That's why your able to relax in the office viewing porn while your boys are rolling their buns off doing local drays down at the docks. Just think if it were not for your cheating the IRS on employee taxes-abusing the independent contractor status or breaking the law with your total disregard of federal "truth-n-leasing" regulations you wouldn't be able to live the high life you are now probably driving to work from the islands in your environmentally friendly HumD. Now please tell us which one of those Georgia overweight permits that you so proudly purchase, probably only five per twenty-eight trucks-of which they are transferred from truck to truck. Another fine scam in cheating the state of Georgia. Yes please tell us which one of those permits says you can legally haul 116,000 pounds of frozen chickens or wood products stacked to the roof in a high cube while driving in inclement weather conditions on the public highway? The rest of your calculations would actually be laughable if it weren't for the fact that so many drivers are being screwed right here in Savannah.